A woman was tackled and sexually assaulted on the American River Parkway near Kadema Avenue, Sacramento County park rangers said Friday.

The woman, who was described as college-aged by rangers, was running on a horse trail near a park bench behind the main paved trail at the nine-mile marker of the parkway, said Sgt. Randy Lewis, a county park ranger.

The attack took place about 11 a.m. Tuesday, Lewis said.

The victim managed to save herself in the attack, which rangers believe was about to become much worse, Lewis said.

“She was screaming very loudly and fighting him off at the same time,” Lewis said.

He added, the victim’s screams and efforts to resist the attacker scared him off -- and he rode away on a bicycle.

“Probably, it would have turned into a rape, had he been able to proceed,” Lewis said.

Still, rangers say the attack was a sexual assault because the woman was groped and inappropriately touched.

A man from a nearby office building heard the screams, and rushed to the area to see the attacker riding away on a bicycle, Lewis said.

He is described as a white man in his 30s, with blond or light-colored hair and a scruffy beard. At the time of the attack, he wore a red baseball cap, camouflage pants and black-and-white ski gloves, Lewis said.